on the Nesting of Red-capped Parrakeets , etc. 293


young Parrakeet to scour, but all has gone well. It is a splendid

food for birds with inflammation, with the addition of five drops

of brandy or whisky to a desert-spoonful of the mixture.


Another interesting brood—of two only—is that of hybrids

between a “Splendid” Rosella and a Stanley Parrakeet. The

“Splendid” Rosella is distinguished from the ordinary species by

the feathers on the back, which have a very brilliant yellow

edging to each one ; indeed I fancy the bird is altogether brighter.


Last year the Stanleys reared one young, but this spring a

divorce took place, and the hen Stanley forsook her lawful hus¬

band to mate with the Rosella. Perhaps she was taken by his

more gorgeous appearance, but it is hard luck on her former

husband, or perhaps it is’nt! ! One has known such cases ! and

I have been rearing by hand one of these hybrids.


Now the father has white cheeks and the mother yellow

ones ; why then should those of their progeny be pale blue ? The

bird that I have been rearing seems otherwise to favour the

Stanley more than the Rosella, both in size and colour, although

his breast runs from scarlet to yellow and apple-green on the

underparts. He might be dubbed the “ Blue-cheeked ” Stanley

Parrakeet. Unlike many hybrids, he is quite as beautiful as

either of his parents. It was the father of the hybrids which

trespassed into the house of the Red-caps, perhaps in an absent

fit of mind.


There is one point to be noticed in the young Red-capped

Parrakeet, and that is that the whole head and cheeks are of an

almost uniform green, with a dull baud of red over the nostrils,

instead of the cherry coloured cap and yellow-green cheeks of

the adult. The breast is of a very dull-coloured fawnish mauve :

otherwise the colouring is similar to the parent birds.


1909. Red-capped Parrakeets. [summary].


On 1st of June. Hen sitting on six eggs. Aviary attendant said

she had been in nesting-box some time.


On 7th, heard squeaking of young ones. Found four, of at least

four or five days old.


No trace of other two eggs.


On 2nd of July took one to rear by hand. Covered with thick

grey fluff, whitish patch of same on back of neck.



